


before, now, and forever

by phylocalist



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (but only sort of--there's no death at all involved), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Guardians of the Four Seasons, M/M, Reincarnation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, implied soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 19:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18198578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylocalist/pseuds/phylocalist
Summary: Spring comes. And the bears aren't the only ones waking up.-And I'll be yours until the stars fall from the sky / until the rivers all run dry / in other words, until I die.





	before, now, and forever

**Author's Note:**

> while spring isn't my favorite season (that would be winter), i am nothing if not a hopeless romantic at heart and i love romanticizing the hell out of life and nature. and because spring has brought me nothing but bad events, i will at least write my favorite characters into getting nothing but joy and satisfaction from this season.
> 
> thank you to the earth for still fighting and existing even after all we've done to it, and thank you for reading this. may spring bring joy and new beginnings to your life—maybe even a moonlit waltz.
> 
> lyrics in summary are from baby i'm yours by the arctic monkeys!

Yuri feels it, like liquid warmth along his spine, the exact moment that winter starts to melt into spring. It’s like static electricity running through his veins, slowly waking up a different part of him as the Earth awakens in time.

When the blades of grass underneath the snow start to perk up, warmth spreads from his fingertips to his wrists, slowly, perfectly in time with the greenery fighting its way back to full consciousness. When the first morning glory blooms, an almost indistinguishable pop of white against the melting snow, Yuri feels the icy air make its way back into his lungs.

Yuri can hear the call of Mother Nature now, an ever-constant hum that grows louder and louder until he fully wakes up and takes his first breath of the season.

Spring has come. And he has woken.

Cat-like, he stretches and mewls, feeling the life of nature make its way back into himself, remaking him anew. His wings flare out from where they were wrapped around himself as he slept, the first sunshine of Spring bringing out the technicolor of their delicate webbing.

Yuri basks in the sun for a moment, eyes closed and ears open. He can hear every blade of grass gently sway with the last remnants of a winter breeze, feel the thrum of life travel underneath the earth and into the roots of old trees and the yet unbloomed buds of flowers. The world is slowly waking up from its wintery slumber and Yuri can feel _all_ of it.

When his eyes finally open, _he_ is there. Sitting on a tree stump, armor discarded to the side and soft brown eyes trained on Yuri. Like he always is.

Like they’ve promised to be; before, now and forever.

 

*

 

“I’ve been saving these for you,” Otabek says, the first thing any of them have spoken. He holds out an apple in Yuri’s direction.

They don’t need to talk much now. After so much time together, they’ve learned to communicate without words, only touches and gestures needed to get their points across. But hearing Otabek’s voice is like a healing balm over Yuri, the very last thing that he needs to feel fully woken up.

“Thanks,” Yuri replies, extending his hand to grab the apple. The moment it touches his fingers, the red of the skin deepens and shines like it’s just been polished, and when he bites into it it tastes perfectly ripe. The taste of Fall.

“Winter was stubborn this year.”

Yuri hums, chewing the apple and brushing his hand over the small patch of dirt visible between the melting snow. Under his touch, the grass straightens and grows, slowly poking out from the places where the snow has not quite melted away yet.

“It always is. It’s all that old man’s fault,” Yuri grumbles, taking another bite of the apple. “But it always goes in the end, like it’s meant to.”

“And even when it doesn’t want to,” Otabek starts, and Yuri looks back at him, because there’s something in his voice. He’s smirking. “You always make it.”

Yuri smirks himself, smug and self-satisfied. “Of course. It’s my job after all.” Another bite. Juice dribbles down the side of his chin and he licks at it before it can drip down, refusing to waste any of the food Otabek’s saved for him. “You always have such an easier time with the piggy. He _actually_ likes to play by the rules.”

“As do I.” Otabek smirks, but it’s teasing this time. “The troublemakers are always you and Viktor.”

“Don’t even mention him,” Yuri hisses and fakes a shiver, though the small smile tugging at his lips betrays his actions. “I already have a hard enough time getting him to leave each year, I don’t wanna give him any more reason to stay because he thinks he’s being called upon.” He rolls his eyes.

Otabek, like the complete dork that he is, motions his mouth zipped closed and locked, throwing away the key. It makes Yuri giggle, which he’s sure was the intention all along, because Otabek smiles warm and bashful. Yuri watches him stand up from the tree stump and walk over to him, stopping right in front of where he’s sitting cross-legged on the grass. There’s already a few small flowers starting to bloom around the space where he’s sitting, the earth immediately reacting to his presence.

Otabek stretches out a hand to Yuri, who takes it without hesitation or questioning. He pulls himself up from Otabek’s hand and stretches out his wings again. He’s going to have to build some strength back into them if he wants to use them.

“Are you ready now?” Otabek asks, every so gentle. His hand is warm where he holds Yuri’s. “Want to go take a walk?”

“Yeah,” Yuri replies, unable to contain a smile. This is always his favorite part. “Let’s go wake everyone up.”

 

*

 

The trees are always the easiest. He barely needs to touch them, a graze of his hand along the trunks, and they start stirring back into life. Yuri feels it like a hum, Mother Nature’s song raising in volume until it reaches them and wakes them up gently, just like she always does with Yuri too. The trees also recognize Otabek, familiarity flowing from them onto Yuri’s palm and through him to Otabek’s hand clutched in his.

Once the trees start to wake, it’s only a matter of time until the grass and the flowers feel the hum as well and perk up towards the first rays of Spring. Yuri walks hand in hand with Otabek through the forest, closely listening to the sounds of the Earth waking back up for a new season, his bare feet grazing the dirt underneath and leaving behind small patches of lush, green grass and fragrant flowers.

The world comes awake under Yuri’s touch—because life flows through him and out of him, because this is what Mother Nature created him for: to bring forth Spring.

 

*

 

“Come on, now,” Yuri says softly, poking the small bear cub with one finger. The cub rolls over, still snoring. “It’s time to wake up, little guy.”

Otabek snickers next to him, squatting down to pet the bear cub. Yuri bats his hand away, because it’ll only make the cub fall asleep again. “They sure love sleeping, huh?”

“Goddess, tell me about it,” Yuri huffs. “You just have to put them to sleep at the end of Fall and Viktor doesn’t even have to deal with them. _I’m_ the only one who has to do any work around here.”

“Well,” Otabek says, ignoring Yuri’s attempts at getting him to stop petting the bear cub. It even starts snoring again, because of course Otabek is only good at putting them to sleep. “We can go check on the other animals while these guys rest some more, and then come back again,” he suggests.

Yuri huffs again, the breath blowing out his bangs. He puts up his hands in defeat and straightens back up. “Yeah, whatever. They’re always the last ones to wake up anyway.”

He refuses to acknowledge the warm, fuzzy feeling that pools in his chest at Otabek’s smile, or the fact that he knows he’s only doing this, does it every single year, because Otabek loves the bears and always wants to let them sleep longer than every other animal. It’s not like he’s playing favorites, he tells himself, it’s just… become tradition at this point.

They visit the hedgehogs next, because they _are_ easy to wake up. They spring awake almost at the lightest touch, only a small poke from Yuri needed for their noses to start twitching again in curiosity. The babies jump at Yuri and Otabek right after waking up, nuzzling into their laps as thanks, like they do every year.

The squirrels are next, and then they move onto bigger animals like snakes—another of Otabek’s favorites—and groundhogs. They pass the bats and raccoons along the way and by the time they’ve finally gotten the bears awake it’s nighttime, the moon shining bright and full in the sky.

Yuri takes in a deep breath, standing with his arms and wings wide open in the middle of a clearing. The moonlight shines on his skin and he feels the vitality of the first moon of Spring, the promise of a new cycle to come. He hums gently, Mother Nature’s song worming its way into his mouth, as he breathes in the crisp air of the forest and listens to the flap of wings, the pitter-patter of tiny feet and the distant howls: the sounds of the world waking up, alive again.

Even though his eyes are closed, Yuri can feel as Otabek moves closer to him. He remains unmoved but receptive, and lets himself be handled as Otabek grabs one of his open palms and brings it closer to himself, and then the other. He brings their bodies together and Yuri can feel Otabek humming too, the same song, the sound of life running through them and all around the world.

Otabek starts swaying them ever so softly, following the beat of Mother Nature’s song—the sound of life itself. Yuri puts up no resistance, lets himself be lead as he lets his head fall perfectly into the crook of Otabek’s neck, his breathing soft and shallow as he allows himself to relax for the first time in the day.

Balance is important. Yuri knows that his and Otabek’s existence, and even the existence of those two other annoying old men, is indispensable. They’re needed to bring forth the different seasons of earth, following along the path that Mother Nature has carved out for them. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall—a cycle that should never be broken. Yuri knows.

But sometimes, he wonders. Sometimes he allows himself to daydream of getting to spend all four seasons with Otabek, like this—held in each others’ arms for the rest of time. He thinks of a life where he doesn’t have to sleep through Winter and Otabek doesn’t have to sleep through Summer. He dreams of a forest covered in white and an apple orchard colored in gold, Otabek’s hand in his.

For a moment, Yuri allows himself to forget about everything else, but them. For what seems like an eternity, his world is reduced to the clasped hands pressed between two warm chests, the gentle hum of a song of old and the soft sway of bodies in a waltz under the moonlight.

Later, when months have passed and Otabek has gone into sleep to prepare for the coming Fall, Yuri will be there when he wakes. He will sit on an abnormally patch of green grass and present a bouquet of fresh flowers to the waking Otabek to welcome him into the world once again. Like he always is.

Like they’ve promised to be; before, now, and forever.

They will always be this. Until the sky falls and the world dies, until Mother Nature decides it’s time, they will wait for each other and wake up to each other and hold each other in a slow waltz under the first moon of Spring and Fall.

Because it feels like they were made halves of each other, destined to come together.

Because they’ve promised.

Before, now, and forever.

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna chat, you can always find me at [**twitter!**](http://twitter.com/phylocalist)


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